


Rings

by TV_addict_86



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternative Universe - No Island, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Olicity Secret Santa, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 18:00:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13195548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TV_addict_86/pseuds/TV_addict_86
Summary: Oliver and Felicity are both not interested in finding their soulmate, albeit for very different reasons.





	Rings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tdgal1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tdgal1/gifts).



> My submission for Olicity Secret Santa 2017. This is written as a gift for Carol, I'm so happy you liked it!

Legend said the Mark only appeared when one's soul truly recognized its other half. In the seventies this had been reinterpreted to mean that you needed to sleep with your soulmate to make the Mark appear and in some instances, that did work. Of course, it also occasionally happened when people didn't sleep together, but sex was a fun and easy way to connect to someone.  

It didn't take long for movements to emerge that protested using sex as a trigger, especially when cases of a true soulmate connection were found less and less. People were pointing fingers at promiscuity being the cause of the diminishing amount of soulmate matches. 

The truth of the matter is that no-one knows exactly why soulmate matches are found so few and far between, that finding your one true match has become somewhat of a legend. Oliver Queen used to proclaim loudly and for everyone to hear that "it's not a crime to try and find my soulmate, is it?", whenever faced with paparazzi asking him about his very  _active_  love life.  

The wink and suggestive smile that accompanied a statement like that had Felicity rolling her eyes at her screen. It's not like she really kept up with the guy, but as a Queen Consolidated employee she had decided to do some research on the recently re-emerged 'heir to the throne'. A little over a year ago she found herself in Starling City because QC offered her a job far away from her past. Though the playboy billionaire hadn't gone completely unnoticed in her periphery, he also wasn't someone she'd given a lot of thought.  

It was rumoured – though never confirmed – that his parents had been soulmates. After Mr. Queen's unexpected death, his wife had become somewhat reclusive and Oliver Queen had disappeared from the limelight and most likely from Starling City entirely. His best friend and partner in crime still made the gossip rags occasionally, but he too seemed to have cleaned up his act quite a bit.  

A little over a week ago, every local news station was buzzing with the news of Oliver Queen's return to Starling City and the rumours mostly seemed to revolve around his possible future within Queen Consolidated. Granted, the gossip rags were more interested in the ring on his finger and whether it concealed a Mark or perhaps implied a serious relationship.  

Felicity didn't care what the gossip rags were writing, but  _was_ interested in his possible involvement in his family's company. If Oliver Queen truly was going to play a part in Queen Consolidated, it might have repercussions for her, hence her digging through old news-articles and video of one Oliver Queen.  

She had been keeping a low profile at QC, trying not to stand out too much, but doing enough to ensure she got to keep her job. Her boss had always been eager to lick the heels of  _his_ bosses, and with Oliver Queen possibly returning her boss might just be looking to set an example of his 'expert leadership'.  

The whole Cooper fiasco hadn't left her uninterested in coding, but it had been a serious reality check regarding the power of a well-crafted virus. She enjoyed working with computers, helping systems run smoother with a line of code so clever she considered it to be poetry, but she never again wanted what happened with Cooper to happen again.  

The ring on  _her_ finger was a result of the Cooper-fiasco. She figured if her love for Cooper was able to blind her so much so that she didn't see his true motives, it would be exponentially worse in the event she ever – against the odds – found her soulmate. Soulmate matches happened rarely, but she was rather safe than sorry.  

She knew like no other how much a person could change in just a few years, so when she was only able to find evidence of Oliver's past digressions and next to nothing about his current exploits – or the last five years of his life for that matter, she decided to call it quits. Of course, she could dig a little deeper, but that would require hacking and she'd mostly given that up after the call that informed her of the fate of her ex-boyfriend a few years ago.  

Felicity told herself that it didn't really matter anyway. She'd been able to hang on to this job long enough without drawing unwanted attention; as long as she didn't give her boss a reason to really notice her, the appearance of Oliver Queen shouldn't have an impact on her position.  

*--*--*--*--* 

"Felicity?" 

Her head snapped up at the voice that had rapidly become familiar in the last three months. "Oliver." She slowly let go of the tension that had involuntarily lodged itself in her throat when his greeting startled her out of her coding zone. 

She had tried so hard to stay under the radar, but apparently Mr. Queen's hearing was better than she'd counted on. Her so-called boss had been trying to make himself seem better than he was when Oliver made his rounds through all the departments and Felicity had scoffed at the man's blatant lies.  

She thought she had covered it up well enough by following it up with a bit of a cough, but Mr. Queen's eyes had found hers with a laser-like focus. He insisted she call him Oliver after that, and for some reason he kept singling her out in every meeting since. 

"Anyone ever tell you to start wearing a cowbell or something? Stop sneaking up on me!" She tried to hold on to her glare when she looked at him, but as usual the amusement in his eyes was too contagious and any annoyance melted away like snow landing on not yet frozen ponds. 

"I wasn't trying to be sneaky Felicity, your focus on your work is simply stronger than should be humanly possible. Which is why I've come down here actually, could you take a look at this?" He handed her a folder and a USB. Why he insisted on paper copies when he could save a tree and stay digital was a mystery she hadn't yet solved.  

It was one of the very few mysteries she hadn't really tried solving. 

If he stayed digital he wouldn't have a reason to travel down eighteen floors and see her in person, it would be a good idea to convince him to just email her when he wanted her to do something.  

He was probably wasting precious time. 

He must have better things to do than deliver projects to her personally.  

He was being groomed to take over as CEO after all.  

_So why hadn't she tried to convince him of this yet_ _?_  

She told herself it was because he was smart enough to figure this out himself. After all, he'd come back from obscurity with an MBA to his name and had managed to convince the board of directors to put a Queen back at the helm of QC, be it on the condition he shadow the current acting CEO –Walter Steele – for a year before taking over.  

Before she made the conscious decision to do so, her hand was already plugging the USB drive into the computer. A frown made its way to her face after flipping open the folder in her hands though.  

She chanced a look at the man standing in front of her desk, but he was studiously looking at something behind her. Strange, as the only thing behind her was a blank wall. His fingers were rubbing together and if she were a gambler she'd wager he was, nervous? She'd never seen him nervous before.  

"Are you sure this is the right folder?" She asked him.  

His eyes flitted to her, to the folder and back to her in the span of a second. "Mmhm, yes," He told her before his eyes went back to the apparently riveting image of the wall behind her. 

Right.  

"These are what, files on your family?" She was flipping through the pages that each held a portrait picture in the top right corner of the page, followed by basic information she imagined finding on résumés or if your mind went a less innocent direction, perhaps on police files. She recognized his sister, a guy she remembered seeing in a few articles regarding his sister, his mother, and finally Oliver himself.  

It didn't happen often that she was lost for words, but she had no idea what to make of this. He had developed a tendency to come to her with more delicate problems in projects he had taken an interest in, but never something with this much personal information.  

She noticed him standing stock still at her desk and again not meeting her eyes, before she went back to skimming through the folder.  

In addition to simple facts like age and education, there was more personal information provided too. The sheet on his sister contained a few anecdotes seemingly written from the viewpoint of a big brother; the guy on the next sheet was listed as his sister's boyfriend of six months; according to the information on his mother, she was someone that put her family before anything else. There wasn't much on Oliver, other than his current activities, a couple movies he liked and some other titbits that seemed more appropriate to talk about if they were on a date.  

She closed the folder and tried to catch his eye, "Oliver, what-" 

"There's more detailed information on the USB, but I figured it might be best to just start with the basics." He had started scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor, which was odd. His fingers rubbing against each other usually was the only nervous gesture that he didn't seem to be able to contain.  

She looked up at him incredulously. "More detailed information? Oliver, why do I now have  _dossiers_  on your closest family?!" She whisper-shouted at him, looking around to make sure they were alone. 

"We're friends right? I mean, we're friendly. That..." He seemed to be gearing himself up for something, "Yeah, you- you tell me things that aren't – you know – always about, well- sometimes we... talk? About- Not always about work stuff. And you tell me when I'm being an idiot. I'm not sure why but I feel like I can trust you?" He huffed out a laugh as he hung his head.  

She expected him to keep talking, but as the silence grew thicker she couldn't help but blurt out, "Was there a question I missed somewhere in that mess or did you suddenly just go mute?"  

She scrunched up her face as soon as the sentence escaped her, she wasn't usually this rude. Especially not to him. 

"My sister is too romantic for her own good and has gotten it into her head that I need to start dating again. She's so happy in her own relationship I wouldn't be surprised if she's actually delirious because of it." The words came so fast she had to take a moment to process. 

As soon as what he was saying filtered through though, her eyes found the ring on his left hand.  

He wasn't entirely wrong, they did sometimes talk about other things than work. Well, she babbled, he listened. They hadn't ever talked about something as personal as their dating lives (or absence thereof). They both wore a ring, but most likely for very different reasons.  

"Dating?" She shoved down the anxiety his words caused. "I don't mean to pry, but you're wearing a ring. Why would she try to get you to date?" The question made her chest ache, she didn't want to discuss his ring, or her own for that matter. 

He chuckled, "yeah, you'd think wouldn't you. She's been very,  _enth_ _usiastic_  about her own relationship. Shares more than I ever wanted to know about my baby sisters love life. I don't think she's ever believed you could fall in love without having found your soulmate, but ever since meeting Roy she's over the moon, says the fates just can't keep up with her. She doesn't seem to realise that when she says stuff like that it only makes me call her Speedy more often." 

The soft look that had taken over his awkward fumbling while talking about his sister made her smile at him. "You're still wearing a ring though. Can't make it much clearer you're not interested" she said, "And it also doesn't explain why you felt the need to give me all sorts of random information about your family". 

Oliver wearing a ring wasn't something she really dwelled on. When he had started showing up in her corner of QC more often, she took comfort from it. Wearing a ring had become a way to turn your back on the idea of a soulmate. Traditionally people exchanged rings during a wedding ceremony, some bearing the delicate designs inspired by the Mark that appeared circling the third finger of ones left hand. Some people chose a ring designed wide enough to cover an existing Mark or even to hide the fact there wasn't a Mark there.  

 She figured she could deal with him worming his way into her life, because they both weren't interested in finding a deeper connection. 

"I know," he replied. "Thea knows I don't have a Mark and thinks I'm only wearing the ring for the public eye. People around here have a hard time letting go of the person I was before I left.  

"She's not completely wrong, it is easier to fend off unwanted advances with a ring on my finger, but it's not the entire story. But I don't really want to talk the entire story through with her." 

He started shuffling his feet again, maybe he would finally explain himself properly. His mouth opened twice without any sound coming out before he groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face. She thought she heard him say "Why is this so hard?" But couldn't be sure as his hand was still covering part of his face.  

"Just spit it out already!" She threw her hands up before sagging back against her office chair. 

"Come to the pre-Christmas weekend with me so my sister stops trying to set me up with people" he said, in the same tone of voice he used to ask her help with a project. 

She blinked, "What." 

"The pre-Christmas weekend? I told you about it last-" 

She cut him off mid explanation, "Yeah I remember. And I heard you, all the words came through crystal clear. It's just- the words aren't making any sense. You... you want me to what, be your girlfriend for your family's weekend getaway? Your Christmas getaway, with your, you know, family. As your girlfriend" 

It took him a while to answer, and she had just started hoping she was just having a really elaborate case of word confusion when he said, "Yes". 

*--*--*--*--* 

"I still can't believe you wrote me files on your family." They had been driving for a little over an hour and the view had become limited because of the trees on either side of the road.  

He answered without hesitation, "You are always very thorough in any research I ask you to do. You come well prepared to meetings and you're usually two steps ahead of everybody else. I figured I should do the same if I had any chance of convincing you to go along with this ridiculous plan." He took his eyes off the road for a second to smile at her. 

There was a tug in her belly as their eyes connected and she studiously ignored it, opting to keep her focus on the foliage around her instead. The sunlight filtering through the leaves left the air around the car tinted in a faint green. There were spots of snow on the ground between the trees, and any sunlight that made it that far created sparkles in the snow.  

The world was beautiful out here. 

*--*--*--*--* 

She wasn't entirely sure why she had agreed to this. Butterflies were wreaking havoc inside her from the moment the car slowed down- they had arrived.  

The cabin – _palace,_ she corrected herself- was gorgeous, the combination of wood, rock and enormous windows took her breath away. She felt a hand settle in the small of her back and looked up to see Oliver had already put their luggage on the wrap-around porch and had come back to the car, where she was still standing, gaping at the most luxurious mountain cabin she'd ever seen. Her nose and cheeks were tingling and she was pretty sure the cold had turned her normally fair skin red. 

"Come on, let's get you inside. Thea and mom are already here, I'll introduce you."  

He smiled at her slightly panicked face, "They don't bite you know". 

At least the nerves of meeting his mom and sister made it easier to ignore the tugging in her belly for now. "I know! Well not  _know_ know, because I've never met them, but I'm assuming. Most civilized people don't bite. As far as I know."  

She threw him a desperate look, "Don't let me babble when I meet them, they’ll never stop setting you up with people if they think I'm a crazy person!" 

His responding chuckle calmed her down and made her feel a little less cold while they made their way to the 'cabin'. 

*--*--*--*--* 

"Ollie!" His sister almost knocked him over in her enthusiasm, "and you brought a friend? I didn't think you were being serious!" She winked at him before looking Felicity up and down. 

"Don't be rude Speedy. This is Felicity, I would appreciate it if you could act like a normal human being- don’t want to scare her away now do you?" He teased before turning to Felicity again. "Felicity, meet Thea, my sister and bane of my existence." 

She pressed her lips tight together, but her eyes betrayed her mirth, "Nice to meet you Thea," she said as she extended her arm, "Oliver's told me so much about you." 

Thea ignored her gesture, instead going in for a hug, "I'm not as bad as he'd like you to believe, promise," She whispered before bouncing back on her heels. "Mom went for a walk, but said to tell you to get settled in the blue room, she's had it made up for you two." Already walking further into the house, she said over her shoulder, "Dinner's at seven, don't make me sit through it by myself!" 

*--*--*--*--* 

The next morning after breakfast, Oliver took her on a tour of the cabin. He had a story for pretty much every corner they turned, and none of them were really about the cabin itself.  

Everything he talked about was linked to Thea, or his best friend Tommy, "You see this nick right here?" He pointed to a scratch in the woodwork next to yet another bedroom, "Thea was running after me and Tommy again, but instead of letting her catch us, we kept dodging her. This is where Tommy dodged right into a side table with this huge vase on top. He managed to catch the vase, but the corner of the table dug its way into the wall."  

There was a smile on his face she'd seen a lot since they made it to the cabin, and it tugged on something deep inside her every time without fail. If she'd known this would happen she might not have come. It wasn't supposed to happen, this was never supposed to happen. He was a friend, nothing more. The only reason she was here was because he  _didn't_  want a- she cut that thought off before it could fully form. 'Getting a bit ahead of yourself there, aren't you Smoak', she berated herself. He wore a ring for a reason, hell,  _she_  wore a ring for a reason. 

Unaware of her inner turmoil, Oliver continued, "It's a miracle he managed to hold on to the vase, because Thea barrelled right into him as soon as he stopped running." He looked at her and the smile slipped off his face. 

"Are you okay Felicity?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.  

"Yeah, sorry, I spaced for a second there," she forced a smile back on her face, "you've got a lot of history here, it's a shame you don't get to share it with someone special." The minute the words left her mouth, her heart skipped a beat. Why would she even go there?  

She mentally cursed her wayward thoughts, making their way into the real world without her permission. They hadn't really delved deep into their histories, but they covered the basics before coming here- neither of them wanted a romantic relationship. She just wasn't sure that was completely true anymore. 

She sighed, releasing a deep breath, "Sorry, my brain's a bit scrambled. I didn't sleep very well, strange environment and all that. Ugh," she put her hand to her head as she scrunched up her nose as she continued, "here I am, complaining of a lack of sleep when you were bent like a pretzel all night, your back must be killing you". 

"TMI guys, T. M. I." Thea said as she walked towards them, "I was coming to get you for hot chocolate, but I'm gonna look for something to wash my imagination away first." She started backing away the way she'd come. Right before she was out of sight again, she said, "Tell me, what's the best way to get rid of mental images? Bleach or vinegar?" 

Felicity leaned into Oliver's shoulder to smother the giggle that escaped her, even as her cheeks flamed a deep red. Oliver pulled her into a hug, as though they had been used to physical contact for years instead of days. 

"Come on," he said, "let's find that hot chocolate". His hands slid from their place around her, down her arms until he was holding her hands in his. They started walking, following Thea's footsteps towards the kitchen.  

She didn't notice they were still holding hands until they were in the kitchen and he had to let go to pull her seat out for her. 

*--*--*--*--* 

Dinner that night had been strange. Would have been strange even without Thea's not so subtle digs about pretzels and other bendy snacks. She'd hoped sitting across the table from Oliver would give her a little respite, because all day they'd been in contact in some way or other and it was messing with her head.  

It was like they were magnetized and with every movement or turn their fingers would brush, or his hand found its way to the small of her back or to her shoulder. Walking around in the snow outside had been nice too, but she had to hold on to his arm because her boots didn't have enough grip on the icy paths around the cabin. She just didn't want to fall on her face!  

All that contact had only led to more frustration though, because it wasn't just her. If it was, she could've easily pushed it down, ignored the pull. But he felt it too, she was sure of it.  

So she sat across from him, instead of next to him. He'd been giving her strange looks during dinner though, and as soon as dessert had been finished he claimed the mountain-air had wiped him out and went up to their room. Instead of joining him, like the pull inside her told her to, she curled up on the couch near the fireplace, staring at the fire.  

The warmth from the fire and the excitement of the day's events had her almost nodding off right then and there, if it weren't for Thea joining her. The younger girl was uncharacteristically quiet, perhaps picking up on the strange tension between her and Oliver. They were sitting in silence next to each other for a while, before Thea was carefully choosing her words.  

"He's been avoiding relationships since his first girlfriend dumped him, that's not a new thing."  

She pauses, like she's not entirely sure how much she wants to share, "She got angry because her Mark didn't appear after they slept together." Thea's twisting her fingers together in her lap and doesn't look up at Felicity.  

Curious as to where she's going with this, Felicity looks at her but stays quiet, letting Thea search for words, "With dad dying and everything that came to light with it, he didn't want anything to do with romantic relationships. When he came back home with that ring on his finger, I really thought for a second he'd found someone, that he wasn't so lonely anymore. But he'd only closed himself off more, it's like he didn't come back at all." 

Thea looks up at Felicity then, big wide eyes with so much innocence and hope. She looks so much younger than she had all weekend, "A few weeks ago he started to change, mentioned this blonde genius every now and then.  

"I'm glad he has you now, I think he's finally coming back home." Completely unaware of how much she rattled Felicity, she gives her a quick hug, whispers "goodnight" and leaves Felicity sitting on the couch.  

*--*--*--*--* 

By the time she gets to their bedroom, Oliver is already asleep on the couch. She'd told him the bed was big enough for two friends to share, but he'd insisted. She stands there for a second, taking in the silhouette of his slowly rising and falling chest, before pulling herself away to get ready for bed.  

She's staring at the ceiling for what feels like forever, letting her mind play through every interaction she had with Oliver over the past few days. She's pretty sure what she's feeling isn't one sided, but Oliver hasn't given her any indication he wants to do something about it. In fact, he seems to have been pulling away ever since dinner.  

Even if he was interested in more, he wasn't the only one with a history that influenced the way he saw romance. She wasn't wearing her ring for style. Letting someone in terrified her, so why was she even trying to analyse every look and touch Oliver gave her? She rolled over and groaned into her pillow, before remembering she wasn't alone in the room.  

On the outside she froze up, but her heartbeat thundered in her ears, not allowing her to listen for changes in Oliver's breathing. She didn't know how long she'd been laying there, willing her heartbeat to calm down so she could hear any other sounds in the room, but while she was waiting she finally managed to drift off to sleep. 

*--*--*--*--* 

Felicity woke to the sound of Oliver brushing his teeth in the connecting bathroom. She was still groggy from sleep as she padded her way over in her sleep-shorts and t-shirt. Her hair was a tangled mess and she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes when she entered the bathroom. "Morning" she said around a yawn, before grabbing her own toothbrush.  

He looked at her with a soft look in his eyes that was in direct contrast to the way he'd been looking at her last night. He probably hadn't been awake for long either, as he was still in the sweatpants and shirt he was using as pajamas. He spit and rinsed before replying with a quiet "good morning".  

There wasn't a lot of room for him to pass her on his way out, and she felt the heat of his body on her back when he paused right behind her, rested his hand on her hip and pressed a kiss to her temple. He continued on as if this wasn't out of the ordinary at all, until he was back in the bedroom. Felicity blinked hard, wondering if perhaps she hadn't woken up at all yet. On autopilot she rinsed out her mouth and dried her hands. A pinch to her arm convinced her that no, she wasn't still sleeping.  

In a daze she walked out of the bathroom, only to walk right into Oliver. He looked at her like a deer caught in the headlights.  

So she wasn't crazy for being confused. 

They stood there for what felt like an eternity, just staring at each other, until Oliver finally breaks the silence, "You weren't- This wasn't- God Felicity, I didn't bring you here for this, I swear."  

He swallows. Her hands are in his- how did that happen? He folds their hands together before putting them flat against his chest.  

She can feel his heartbeat against her hands, as the heat of his skin slowly seeps through his shirt and into the palms of her hands. Her own heart picks up speed and that weird tugging feeling she'd started experiencing the last two days comes back in full force. It almost physically makes her take a step closer to him, but she's already standing as close to him as one person can stand to another without being pressed together entirely.  

There's an instinct telling her exactly where this is headed, and though she's been so afraid of it for so long, right here right now, with Oliver so close, she feels safe. Safer and more at ease than she's felt in a really long time.  

She looks up and he's right there, looking back at her. There's so much tenderness in his eyes, but she can see badly concealed fear lurking in the shadows. The kind of fear that is only present when faced with hope you thought was crushed long ago.  

They might have very different reasons to fear love, avoid the possibility even, but the essence of it is the same. They see each other for who they are. And just like that, she knows it's okay to be scared, she's just not going to let it hold her back anymore.  

She lifts her face up as he leans towards her, his hand sliding over her shoulder to the back of her neck, fingers tangling in her hair. She can't help the giddy smile that takes over her lips right before they connect to his.  

Neither of them notices the appearance of the beautifully detailed matched markings, wrapping around the ring-fingers of the hands still entwined between them.  

 

* * *

 

 

 

 


End file.
